Bhubaneswar: In a reaction to Chief Minister Naveen Patanik’s letter to two Union Ministers, Piyush Goyal and Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, and his Gujarat counterpart Vijay Rupani ahead of his Surat visit, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday said Patnaik has no concern for Odia people living outside the State and is only shedding crocodile tears for them as elections are ahead.

“The Chief Minister has never met Odia communities living in Surat, New Delhi, Chennai and other places in the country. He is making this (demand for Odia people living in Surat) as a supportive medium ahead of 1019 elections. He has no concern for Odisha people,” he alleged.

Pradhan said the Narendra Modi Government will discharge its responsibility at an appropriate time. “Trains will run and flights will operate from Odisha to Surat,” he said.

Stating that Odisha youths are going outside after failing to get source of living in Odisha, Pradhan urged Patnaik to adopt Gujara Model of development adopted by Narendra Modi during his CM stint.

Notably, the Chief Minister had yesterday written to the Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu and his Gujarat counterpart Vijay Rupani urging them to introduce two trains between Brahmapur and Surat, special flights between Bhubaneswar and Surat and an acre of land for construction of a community hall for Odia people at Surat, respectively.